End of life care supports a person to live as well as possible until they die, and to then die with dignity. We can support you and your family and friends, at different stages of that journey, with
pre-bereavement support beforehand and ongoing support afterwards.
We can offer:
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support while you are making end of life preparations, including signposting to other organisations that can help with financial and practical planning
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referrals and signposting to additional sources of bereavement support
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support with memory making
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an online memory space to keep photos, stories, and messages safe for the future
Please note: we are not a counselling service or a crisis support service.
Pre bereavement
When moving into palliative or end of life care, you and your family may benefit from pre-bereavement support.
Anticipatory grief is a feeling of loss experienced before someone dies. You might feel it for yourself and your loved ones may feel it too. It can reveal a mixture of emotional responses including anger, anxiety and exhaustion and even physical effects.
Your Information and Support Worker can guide you through this period and signpost you to organisations that specialise in supporting you through this time.
Memory Making
Memory making is a lovely thing to do, especially when you have a young family. Following an incurable diagnosis, you may wish to focus more on this. The right time to do so will be different for everyone and it's important to note that memory making, whilst joyful, can bring up a range of emotions.
Your Information & Support Worker can help you explore memory making. They can discuss and help you to plan memory making activities, including accessing funding to support this.
They can also send you a physical or virtual memory box which you can fill with items to build a special keepsake of memories with your family and loved ones.
Online memory spaces (also called 'tribute pages') are a secure and fully customisable online page where you can upload and keep safe photos, videos, messages and more. Many parents like to create these for their young children to access when they are older. They can also be used to share practical arrangements and continue the memory sharing when the time comes. The page can be private, just for you and your family, or it can be shared with wider family and friends to contribute memories, pictures and thoughts too.
Talking and preparing
It can be difficult and painful to talk about dying but having comversations, even difficult ones, about what is to come and how it will look can be incredibly helpful.
Having discussions with your family about your wishes and around practical arrangements can bring peace of mind to you and those around you.
Your Information and Support Worker can help you access resources that can guide you through this process, in a way that feels right for you.
We also have a number of blogs in our Support Library that will introduce the different elements you might consider.
Supporting your children
There are lots of resources available that can help you support your child or children as they process the imminent loss of a parent. This will always be a unique process, that you can move through at your own speed and using the language and information that fits for your family.
Our Information and Support Workers can help you access these resources (including a number of age-appropriate books we can send you for free) and direct you to organisations that specialise in supporting children through this. They can also be a listening ear and supportive sounding board to help you decide what kind of support suits your family best.
